As we approached the lone cabin on the green little hill, the exterior revealed a miserable state. It seemed to have been put together with great effort, using various materials that clearly hadn't been harvested from a single place. From a distance, the cabin gave the impression of a rundown structure in the middle of nowhere. However, upon closer inspection, it looked surprisingly well-maintained.
As we reached the cabin doorstep, prepared to teleport away at any convenience, I noticed Dungeon Master 18 frowning. "What is it?" I asked, but before he could respond, a noise grabbed our attention—the rusty creak of the door.
We stood there, watching apprehensively as the door slowly opened. As it revealed the interior, I instinctively sought out a face, anticipating an explanation for the unexpected sound. However, the face that appeared didn't belong to the one we expected, nor did it appear at eye level. It came from lower down.
Lowering my gaze, my eyes met those of a small humanoid, not a dwarf, not a goblin or anything like that, but something I simply did not expect to see here: a child. The unexpected sight left us momentarily speechless, prompting me to turn to Dungeon Master 20 with a puzzled expression. He looked almost as if not more confused than I was and glanced at me with the same question in mind. We stared back at the kid who just seemed equally surprised to see us, stood there speechless, but then suddenly, seemingly snapping out of his daze, startled and cowardly, quickly closed the door he just opened.
"Was that just a child?" Dungeon Master 20 asked amidst the silence; the door slam left us in.
"Yes. I think it was," I confirmed in spite of not being sure of what I just saw.
"I see."
We stood there for a moment, till the door that was closed to our nose, was opened again, this time opened just enough for the boy to sneakily—or at least he seemed to believe—peek at us.
Deciding that it was enough, I snapped out of my confusion and proactively greeted the boy, "hi." However, at that moment, the door was once again closed shut to my nose.
"I think you scared him," Dungeon Master 20 commented.
You're one to talk, but well, I didn't even bother correcting him.
The door remained slightly ajar, allowing the curious gaze of the child to persist. After a brief pause, Dungeon Master 20 took a step forward, his tone gentler this time. "Hey there, little one. We didn't mean to startle you."
The child was about to once again hide behind the door but eventually hesitated for a moment, eyeing us cautiously but mostly curiously.
"Are you alone?" I asked, trying to peer into the cabin through the ajar door, but since that prompted him to slightly close the door, I stopped.
In most of my incarnations, I have always, now that I think of it, consistently been an alone child, and I’ve never really spent much time around children, so needless to say, I was very awkward with children that age. So, taking the most reassuring voice I could muster, I said, "we won’t do anything to you. So no need to be afraid.”
At that moment, Dungeon Master 20 cast a strange sideway glance at me.
What?
But without a comment on it, he concurred with me, adding, “he’s right, we’re friends. You can come out and talk to us.”
At that moment, not exactly without hesitating, the boy opened the door and stepped out of the cabin.
Dungeon Master 20 threw another sideway glance my way, a proud smirk forming on his face. Yes, Dungeon Master 20, good job. You’ve successfully lured a little boy out of his house. Is that what you want to praise yourself for?
With what I had left of “humanity”, I wanted to scream to the world to better teach their kids so that they never open their doors to strangers, and certainly not to someone like Dungeon Master 20.
Anyway, at that moment, as the boy finally stepped out of the cabin, we finally got to see what he fully looked like.
The boy appeared to be 2, 3, or perhaps 4 years old; I couldn't accurately tell. I just knew that it was an age where even I wouldn't leave a child alone in a house, certainly not in the middle of a forest. However, from the way he was dressed, it didn't look like he was raised by wolves. He was clean, decently dressed, and his lustrous black hair had been very recently combed. This meant that there had to be someone around to take care of the kid. In that moment, a thought flashed in my mind—Dungeon Master 18.
Approaching the child and crouching to be at his level, Dungeon Master 18 asked with a frown, “Hey, little one. My name is Arthur. Could you tell me yours—your name?” Dungeon Master 20 then looked at me, as if wanting me to listen to the answer.
“Baby,” the boy said, talking for the first time.
“Baby, is that your name?” Dungeon Master 20 inquired.
After a beat, the child nodded. Dungeon Master 20 looked at me, with an expression that said, “Did you hear that?”
Yep, I heard that. Who in their right mind calls a child “Baby”? To be frank, the first theory that appeared in my mind upon seeing a child here in the middle of the forest, though that theory had already been killed by the genuine child-like reactions the child displayed so far, was that perhaps the child was another incarnation of Dungeon Master 18. After all, he looked old enough to be 3 years, which was enough time for Dungeon Master 18 to reincarnate and grow into a child this age. However, for very obvious reasons, I gave up on that theory.
<“Baby” successfully appraised>
_____________________________
Name: Baby
Level: ???
Race: Verdenkind
Class: N/A
Title: N/A
Experience: 25 / 225
[Status]
- H.P: 7 / 7
- M.P: 19 / 26
- S.P: 7 / 7
- Fatigue: 27%
- Defense: N/A
- Offense: N/A
[Skills]
- Telekinesis: Level 2
- Fire Magic: Level 1
- Identification: Level 1
- Appraisal: Level 2
- Anti-appraisal: Level 1
[Abilities]
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『Expand』
_____________________________
Upon glimpsing at the boy’s overall stats, I immediately identified several suspicious elements.
With the existence of the all-controlling interface that pretty much overrules all the strange phenomena, the power of Fiendfell, the assignment of a name, was a very unique process. For humans, the name that pops up on their interface is the one they identify with. The interface doesn't really care if it's a first name, last name, nickname, or a mix of them—it just shows the name that the person considers as their own. So, no matter what, the name you see on the interface is the one that person really feels is theirs.
Initially, when we were first reincarnated into Fiendfell, the name we would see popping on our interface would be the unique Dungeon Master denomination. However, as time goes by and we cloak ourselves with our new given name—usually the name our vessel's parents would give us and call us—the name would naturally change. Dungeon Master 08’s theory on that subject is that our ability to change our name, displayed by the interface, is the result of the influence of the authority we reincarnated thanks to. After all, compared to natives of this world, our ability to change our name is akin to an ability to simply rename ourselves at will.
In this case, the name on the interface was the name the boy introduced himself with—Baby. As strange as the name was, the fact that it was displayed in my appraisal proved that it was a name he considered to be his own, unless he was reincarnated by an authority like us and, in a typical Dungeon Master fashion, simply took over it, which I doubted was the case.
Now onto the second awfully suspicious thing I noticed. Even back when we still hadn’t figured out a way to know where exactly we would spawn after using Greed and Resurgence, we knew for a fact that using the said authority would either reincarnate us into either a baby peon that would instantly become a Verdenkind or be born as a highbreed and while those two outcomes weren’t exactly the only possibility those were the most probable ones.
Whether or not we are reincarnated as a Highbreed or as Verdenkind, we would immediately, almost after birth, be presented with the possibility to check our stats. Having spent many lifetimes among men of this world, we came to identify what was normal for us and what was normal for them. A Verdenkind is just a peon that awakens access to the interface, granting them the possibility to get stronger, adjust their attributes to their liking, level up.
However, that awakening is something that usually happens much later in life, generally when the wielder is old enough for logical thinking—usually between 7 to 11 years old. Of course, there were exceptions, but I knew for a fact that the naturally occurring exceptions happened roughly one year outside that time gap, usually leaning toward the older side of the curve.
Right now, the child in front of me was clearly nowhere near that old, and yet he already had the stats of a newly awakened Verdenkind along with that of two skills that are not class-related, since he hadn’t even chosen a class yet.
The third thing I noticed about the kid was his appearance, what he looked like—or, to be exact, who he looked like. Perhaps noticing the frown I displayed staring at the kid, Dungeon Master 20 asked, "What is it?"
"Don't you think this kid looks familiar?"
"Familiar... Now that you mention it," he stepped forward and wedged himself between me and the kid, leaning forward into the boy who couldn't help but back down, stopped by Dungeon Master 20 reaching into his shoulder, "Don't move, please. Where is it that I have seen you? Because I really feel like I have… Somewhere."
As he said that, a face slowly manifested in my mind, one that I've seen plenty of times in the past 200 years or so, so much that I wondered how I didn't immediately notice it. As the realization dawned on me, Dungeon Master 20, who slowly had the same realization dawn on him, couldn't resist putting his suspicions to the test.
"Don't move, kid, I'm going to touch you," he declared before unhingedly doing exactly that. Before the boy could understand what was happening, Dungeon Master 20 reached for his ears with both hands and promptly began to stretch them, as if molding clay. The method was questionable, but the results were unquestionable.
"This face... Theta?!" He frowned, staring at the boy's features, who, with facial features, black lustrous black hair, and now elongated ears, suspiciously, trait-for-trait resembled that of an elf—one he and I were both too familiar with—Dungeon Master 08.
Dungeon Master 20 looked in my direction, seeking an explanation. Don't look at me; I have no idea what's going on.
In my mind, countless theories began to take form. Could it be that Dungeon Master 08 was involved in this? No, with this kid having literally her face, she had to be involved. But how was she involved? Could it be that Dungeon Master 18's disappearance was one of her plans? Is it that or is it not? I mean, it's kind of her fault that none of us noticed Dungeon Master 18's disappearance in the first place; we only noticed it when Dungeon Master 07 inquired about her whereabouts. So could it be that? Could it be that this kid is the result of one of her experiments—knowing her it's highly possible. But does that mean that Dungeon Master 18, in all this, would be keeping an eye on the kid that she would be raising here in the middle of nowhere—something like that? It was a well-known fact that while Dungeon Master 18 didn't have an official and public persona like Dungeon Master 07, Dungeon Master 08, I, and Dungeon Master 20, she was known to be mostly working in assistance in the shadow for Dungeon Master 08. So yes, my theory could be right, but something was missing.
Trying to sort through the various theories that passed through, I felt a headache taking form. However, my train of thought was interrupted by a protest coming from the boy, "Let me go!" Dungeon Master 20 was still holding onto his ears with a frown, asking curiously, "Why do you look like Theta, kid?" not caring the slightest for the discomfort he put the kid in.
The boy squirmed, trying to pull away and managed to do so. As he did, he seemed about to retake shelter in the cabin when Dungeon Master 20 rushed forward, clearly to reach onto the boy. "Hold up," but before he was able to do so, something shot out of the door, engulfing Dungeon Master 20 in an electrical explosion.
No longer doubtful of Dungeon Master 20's capabilities to protect himself, I simply phased into space, reappearing a dozen meters away from there.
From where I phased into existence I saw, black lightning zapped, followed by an owl-like creature flying up in the air, getting bigger and bigger to soon reach the size of an adult human. Looking at where Dungeon Master 20 stood when the lightning zapped, I saw him being bound through and through by a black, large rope that I soon came to realize was a snake-like creature.
It held him in a tight and dangerous-looking embrace, but at this point, I didn't even feel like worrying for him. And I was right for it, for the instant the jet-black creature that surrounded him suddenly imploded on itself, turning once again into a minced inky substance, freeing Dungeon Master 20 from its binding embrace.
At that moment, the owl-like creature that soared in the sky was going for a dive in Dungeon Master 20's direction, its body surrounded by black lightning. Most likely, it was responsible for the first explosion. Dungeon Master 20 extended his hand toward the owl-like shadow creature, and the next instant, minced bits of the shadow creature rained down on the ground.
Another attack was launched toward Dungeon Master 20, this time from inside the cabin. Something shot forth, lunging at Dungeon Master 20, but with disconcerting ease, he caught the charging creature. It was a crow-like creature, cawing and struggling to get free but failing to do so. Dungeon Master 20 smiled, clearly about to crush the creature with his bare hand, but at that moment, he stopped, or, to be exact, was stopped, his attention shifting instead toward the boy who stood by the doorstep. Despite all that had just happened, the boy was left completely unharmed, staring at Dungeon Master 20 with a tense expression.
"Let Crow go," he demanded angrily. Dungeon Master 20 looked at him, smiled with all his teeth, as he examined his arm, which was strangling the crow.
"Oh, so this crow is called Crow? Strange name, but why am I not even surprised." Without having visual confirmation of it, I was familiar enough with the skill to know what was happening. The boy was using [Telekinesis] to have Dungeon Master 20 let go of the bird.
"Let him go!" he demanded more fervently. Dungeon Master 20 smiled as he looked back at the kid, his arm slightly shaking.
"Kid, if you're going to mess around with powers like that, you've got to understand one thing," he grumbled. "Being all gentle and nice won't cut it. You're dealing with the real world here, not some fairy tale."
Woah, what are you, a bully? Yep, definitely a bully.
"So, here's a piece of advice for you—be ruth—" In that moment, the sound of something fracturing resounded, followed by the caw and the wing flapping of the crow as it broke from Dungeon Master 20’s grasp. "Oh!" Dungeon Master 20 smiled and nodded approvingly. "That's more like it." The sight made me wince on his behalf; there was a clear lack of reaction from the interested. Dungeon Master 20's forearm was bent in an unnatural direction.
"I still don't know why you look like Dungeon Master 08, but now I'm interested," he said, approaching the boy. The boy, frightened, went to take refuge inside the cabin, but Dungeon Master 20 simply followed him, barging inside the cabin.
Does this guy have no danger awareness at all? I sighed internally, then followed Dungeon Master 20. "Wait, leave the kid a—" I was about to follow Dungeon Master 20 into the cabin when up above, I heard the freed crow caw. It flew in circles, its caws getting louder and louder.
It was amidst the caws that I felt it.
Being a wielder of the rare [Teleport] and a past wielder of [Teleport Magic,] both skills made me very sensitive to space-related distortion. Right now, I was feeling exactly that: distortions. However, the ones I was feeling were clearly not from a space-related skill like [Teleport] and [Teleport Magic] but something simpler. Something was coming in our direction at supersonic speed from the other side of the forest opposite to the one we came from.
Oh, crap. Once again, I tried to warn Dungeon Master 20, but before I could do so, it reached us. I was only able to do what I could in time: Warp my ass out of there.
Once again, a loud explosion reverberated, different from the previous one as this one engulfed and tore the cabin and everything in the vicinity, scattering a powerful force surging in all directions. It erupted like thunder, and a seismic shockwave rippled through the air, vibrating the very molecules around them. It felt as if the fabric of reality itself had been momentarily disrupted. The trees, the ground—I warped into existence several dozen meters away, and everything shook violently.
Looking at the source of the powerful commotion, I peered in the direction of the cabin, which was entirely surrounded by a thick layer of dust. A couple of tense moments went by, and the dust screen thinned, allowing me to perceive the outline of what—or rather, who—was responsible for the commotion. I saw Dungeon Master 20 locked in a punching stance, his fist meeting that of a female figure. She held the boy who introduced himself as "baby" in her left arm. Time seemed to hang in suspension.
In that moment, laughter reverberated from Dungeon Master 20, "Hahaha! If it isn't you? Long time no see, sister! I've missed you," he said, swinging his other arm, the one previously bent in the wrong direction, at her and the boy she was holding onto. However, as he did that, she reached into his arm and forcibly pulled him close before cleanly headbutting him once, "Guh," then twice, the second time sending Dungeon Master 20 miserably straight to the ground. The next thing she did was stomp the ground, resulting in Dungeon Master 20's body bouncing into the air. From there, with a simple counter-clockwise step, she delivered a powerful backhand that sent Dungeon Master 20 flying into the distance and landing somewhere in the forest we came from.
As I watched Dungeon Master 20 flying into the distance, easily taken care of, I retracted my gaze from the forest he disappeared into. In that moment, as my eyes met the figure responsible for his defeat, she stood there holding the little boy in one hand and Dungeon Master 20's arm in the other. Our gazes locked, and in that moment, a thought crossed my mind, "Oh, fuck."